Unfortunately, I think it's the nature of LA area thrifting. I can think of two key reasons: The amount of quality vintage clothing remaining in circulation is simply overwhelmed by the amount of crappy fast fashion clothing from the last 20 years. I find this applies to thrift stores across the US now, particularly in communities where the only shopping is Walmart or at best a JC Penney. In LA specifically, I feel like vintage resellers swoop in and grab all the good stuff before anyone else can get to it. St Vincent de Paul downtown used to have great finds, now it's nearly impossible. And then the resellers go and try to sell things for exorbitant prices at places like the Rose Bowl flea market, as you observed. Answer from LAeclectic on reddit.com